General Category > General Questions

need some tips

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melissa_2004:

--- Quote from: Pay_My_Claims on September 28, 2009, 11:30:40 PM ---Ring Ring Ring

Hello Dr XXX office
Hello, May I speak to your Office Manager Please
May I state who is Calling

Marge XXX
May I state what this is in reference to?
A) No heffer, you can't
B) Medical Billing Services
C.) A personal matter
D.) I am returning her call

I always try to find out who is the decision maker at the practice. I cheat and look up info on the NPI Registry. A lot of times they will have the owner, or CEO listed. Even on the BBB they have additional information, or I will google the website. A good website has a list of the employees listed.


--- End quote ---

I choose A.   ;)

Pay_My_Claims:
roflmao...yeah me too,
I just try to circumvent the front desk staff altogether.

PMRNC:
I completely disagree trying to get around staff, the office manager or billing manager usually IS the gatekeeper, entrusted with the task of presenting any solutions to the providers (decision makers) that's a known fact. Too often the doctors don't know what's going on and without knowing the problems in the office you can't offer solutions. I've been more successful gaining the trust and conversation from office managers or billers on staff by getting their attention first and empathizing with them. Your goal is NOT to take their job. As a rule I dont' take clients w/out a gatekeeper because I don't want to rely on a busy provider to get me what I need. Your goal is to promote the benefits of using your services, those benefits are NOT just for the provider but for the staff as well as it frees up their time to help the provider provide more efficient patient care. Any time you try to overstep them you will come up empty, remember their job IS to pre-screen calls and they are paid to keep the doctor focused on patients not on taking sales calls. Take the "Sales" out of the call, get the office manager or billing manager to talk.. make them your friend and Allie, show them empathy and give them ideas on how you can help them.
One teqnique I will use is to research certain problems in a given area or by a specific payor and I will call and speak with the office manager, when the person who answer's says.. "what is this in reference to?" I tell them I am a billing company and I would like to speak with the person who does billing about claims that are being routinely denied, or a backup of workers comp, or the new mental health parity laws, or even the new HIPAA (HITECK) provisions. You would be surprised how many doctors don't realize they have very little time to amend their Business Associate Agreements they have with their BA's. Same thing with the Red Flag rules, many offices are not prepared ..the key is to research, learn and talk about these things with the staff. In most cases the staff will be receptive to an empathetic ear, but in all cases they will not be receptive to someone trying to dance around them to get past them, they will feel threatened.

Pay_My_Claims:
Well we have to agree to disagree because coming from being an in-house biller and having a billing service come in and explain to you what they can do is JOB THREATENING!! You no longer need your biller that job is GONE. When a service came in, she had us in the meeting and they told what they can do. FULL PRACTICE MANAGEMENT offers scheduling, insurance verification, authorizations, payment posting, denials etc etc. The only position that was clearly safe in that scenario was the front desk staff. The offices that I work now from home don't have a medical biller, except 1, and that is because I only do the DME portion, and the other biller does the Medical side. They could like my services enough to have me do them all, and what purpose would they have to use her, and she actually bills from California.  After that meeting I was clear...well the job you will eliminate is MINES. i did all the auths, verifications, payment posting, denials etc etc. The only person they would need would be the front desk person since they didnt have auto check in and some offices now have that. Don't get it twisted when a Billing Service takes over a practice, jobs are lost. As a business owner, I am not keeping staff on board when I am paying a company to do the same task. What does the in-house biller have to do now that I am there??? Why split the tasks up??

I think the issue Marge is having is that she CAN'T get to the office manager because of the fear of the staff. Her repeat efforts are getting her nowhere. Yes I do avoid the staff because it is the OFFICE MANAGERS job to initially ease their minds of job security. It is my job to work with them should she decide she wants to split the tasks and pay an inhouse-and billing service. I have no idea going in, if they plan to replace the current position, or have me work along side of them. Once I meet with the office manager and tell her what I can do, it is up to them. What happens when you come in, and they replace the in-house biller??

If the Office Manager wants me to meet with the staff and explain to them what my position would be, at that moment a decision has been made that I will be an extension of their office staff, not a replacement. When we have that agreement at hand, that is when I ease the staff's mind, if that can be done. If they think long and hard, they will realize their jobs are still at risk!!

Michele:
I agree with both of you - and I love answer "A"!  But I'm afraid that one won't get you to the person you need to speak to.  LOL  Anyway, it is threatening, but if you can get them to let their guard down a little and at least make them feel a little less threatened it helps.  If they like you it is harder for them to hate you.  Another thing you might try is "I'm calling her back about some information on electronic claim filing". 

Michele

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